Biden spending alarms Trump allies

Joe Biden's mammoth $364 million August fundraising haul is leading to tens of millions worth of ads in battleground states.

The big picture: “It should be an alarm to every Republican donor that they’ve got to dig deep and give more,” Club for Growth head David McIntosh told AP.

• “Fox News will help carry (Trump’s) message, but the mainstream media won’t. That means he’s got to have enough resources to go over their heads and talk directly with voters.”

The Trump campaign tells me ad spending will be up 50% over last week, with Arizona and Pennsylvania added, for a total of eight states with advertising on broadcast and local cable. The Trump campaign also continues to buy on national cable, including a spot contrasting Trump and Biden on the economy.

• The campaign said it’s a “mid-8 figures” buy, with the economy as the message, and said Trump is also expanding an existing urban radio buy.
• The earlier six states were Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Between the lines: Roughly two-thirds of Trump's Facebook ads are geared toward fundraising — not voter persuasion — in non-battleground states, the AP notes, citing an analysis by the firm Applecart.

• About half of the battleground ads focus on voter persuasion.

The bottom line: Trump has never lacked for attention, but Biden has nearly doubled Trump's spending over the last month.